


My Tutor

by annazonabeth



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Broken Hearts, F/M, Minor Annabeth/Luke, Minor Charles/Silena, Minor Jason/Piper, Romance, Sexual Tension, Unrequited Love, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-17
Updated: 2016-07-21
Packaged: 2018-07-24 11:42:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7506961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annazonabeth/pseuds/annazonabeth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Percy attends one of the fanciest boarding schools out there, Goode High. But Percy's below average grades are threatening his eligibility to play sports. Desperate, he resorts to trying to rekindle his friendship with Annabeth, in hopes she will help him get his academics back on track. After striking up a deal to get Annabeth to tutor him, he soon learns that he wants to be so much more than just friends with her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Percy**

I stared angrily at Mr. D, the principal of Goode High Boarding School. He looked smug at the information he just gave me. His face made me even angrier.

"You aren't serious, are you? Tell me you aren't serious!" I practically yell at him from my seat directly in front of Mr. D's desk. He narrowed his eyes dangerously at me.

"I am serious, Peter Johansson." Mr. D tried to sound as calm and collected as possible, but he looked like he was fighting the overwhelming urge to strangle me to death and then blame it on his secretary. I opened my mouth to tell him that my name was Percy Jackson. But I knew he was just trying to piss me off by calling me by an incorrect name, so I shut my mouth. Besides, even if I did correct him, he would purposefully call me by another incorrect name as soon as the next time he spoke.

Mr. D rubbed his bloodshot eyes. I had always suspected that they were the result of a hangover. There were rumors going around school that Mr. D liked to show up to suspected booze parties held in dorms and instead of shutting them down like a good principal, joined the partying, under-aged students.

I never went to those parties (and not because I wasn't invited, I was) but because I just don't run with that kind of crowd. I prefer smaller, more intimate get-togethers with people I actually knew.

"I don't have time for your bullshit, Mr. Jackman." Oh yeah, in addition to partying with the students, he also regularly disrespected us. "Whether you like it or not, you are at risk of academic suspension which means if you don't get your grades up by the time basketball conditioning starts, you are ineligible to play for the whole season."

My jaw dropped. It didn't occur to me until now the seriousness of my situation. If I couldn't play basketball this fall, how the hell am I going to survive the semester? Join chess club? Yeah, no.

"And judging from your transcript," He continued, glancing at the computer monitor on his desk and then smiling at me, "You aren't very smart which means you most likely won't have your grades up by basketball conditioning in one month and you certainly won't have your grades up by spring." I hated how happy he sounded. "So I guess that means no swimming in the spring for you."

"What? But I'm captain!"

"Does it look like I give a damn?" He deadpanned.

I wanted to bang my head on Mr. D's desk in front of me. How could I be so stupid and careless? Junior year had started a little over a month ago and here I was, already flunking. Dammit!

"Now get out of my office!" Mr. D shooed me out and slammed the door in my face as soon as I turned to face him.

"My backpack is still in there!" I banged my fist on the door so hard that the secretary started giving me dirty looks. Mr. D quickly opened the door to his office, shoved my backpack into my arms and then slammed the door even harder than the first time.

What a jackass.

I grumbled as I slipped my backpack on and headed towards the outdoor basketball courts where my basketball buddies usually hang out at as soon as school was out. With them, I could bitch about Mr. D all I wanted.

* * *

"I can't fucking believe this! How am I supposed to get my grades up in just one month? I dribbled the basketball a few times before shooting it through the hoop. Conner Stoll caught the ball as it descended but his brother Travis stole it from him. Ha ha, that wasn't even intended to be a pun. Never mind.

Travis smiled at me and kept the ball away from his brother.

"I don't know, study?" Well, no fucking duh. I rolled my eyes at him. Of course I was suppose to study! Only, I'm not exactly the smartest person around and am not that amazing at studying. Plus I have dyslexia and ADHD, which makes sitting down in one place and focusing on schoolwork all the more difficult. I signed. Dyslexia and ADHD? Really? I just had to be stuck with a combination like that. The gods must hate me.

"This is all that jerk Mr. D's fault, I bet. He hates me so he probably lowered my grades on the school's computer so I can't play." I was sure of it. Nothing made more sense to me at the moment. It was all a conspiracy against me. That had to be the only explanation.

"Or," Grover, my friend since forever piped in. He wasn't much of an athlete; instead he was the equipment manager, which is just as important as the players. At least that's what he always says. He was loosening the tie of our school's uniform, which for the boys was just black slacks, a white button down shirt, a black tie, and sea green cardigan sweater with the school emblem on the left. Nothing too fancy and it was easy to move around in. I just couldn't stand the tie. "Maybe you haven't been trying hard enough. I can't even remember seeing you do your homework or even open any of your textbooks since this year started." We had shared a dorm since freshman year.

I was appalled at what I was hearing coming out of his mouth. He was my friend and was suppose to listen to my complaints and agree with me on everything.

"That's because I study while you're sleeping," I countered. But it was all lies. Grover just gave me an annoyed look.

Travis passed the ball to Will Solace who dunked it.

"Maybe you should get a tutor. The school has free tutoring sessions from four to seven o'clock." No way was I going to that. I went for one day in the beginning of freshman year. There were way too many people in one room and only about five tutors juggling all these kids' questions. For all the money that students pay to attend this school, you'd think they could have better tutoring programs.

"Tutor for who?" Beckendorf asked. He was walking towards us with his girlfriend Silena Beauregard. They had started dating last year.

"Percy is at risk for being on academic suspension." Connor laughed at my misfortune and I clenched my teeth.

"It isn't funny, Connor. Percy should start taking school seriously if he wants to be accepted into colleg – Hey!" Travis had bounced the ball against the back of Will's head, effectively silencing him.

"What I don't get is how do you get on academic suspension when I'm doing perfectly fine." Travis said and then attempted a slam-dunk but Beckendorf, being as tall as he is, simply held up his arm to block it. Travis gave him a look that said, "Really, man, really?" and Silena giggled.

"Hell if I know." I sighed and was about to continue on with my complaining when Connor gasped.

"Look!" He smiled and nodded his head in the direction he wanted us to look. A pretty blond girl with tan skin and her eyes distracted with a book was about to walk through the basketball courts towards the school store. She apparently felt our eyes on her as she looked up from her book and made a face I interpreted as, "Why did I have to walk this way?" She closed her book and turned the other way, deciding to take the long way to the campus store instead of just cutting through the basketball courts.

Annabeth Chase. I mentally groaned.

"She looked at me! She looked at me! Did you see?" Conner was freaking out, getting hopped up on happiness.

"She looked at all of us." Will pointed out.

"But she looked at me the most."

I rolled my eyes at Connor. He would probably get it on with anything that moves and has breasts.

"Why, Percy, why?" He put his arm around my shoulders.

"Why what?" I wrestled my way out of Connor's grasp.

"Why couldn't you have stayed friends with her? If you had stayed friends with her, any one of us could have had a better shot with her and probably gotten with her."

Beckendorf and Grover held up their hands as if surrendering.

"Taken." They said.

"So what's the deal with you two?" Connor pressed on. "I've always been curious as to why you guys aren't friends anymore. In fact, I bet that had you guys stayed friends, you'd be dating her right now."

"Its none of your business." I never wanted to admit it, but I was sensitive about the topic of Annabeth. She and I were best friends until seventh grade and then everything went to Hell after that. I was hoping that my friends would know better than to bring her up in my presence. But as always, Connor never picked up on obvious social cues. "It doesn't matter. Besides, I'm not interested in being friends with her anyways."

Grover grinned at me, mentally communicating in a smug voice: "Yeah, sure."

"It's all your fault, Percy." Connor just didn't get the hint that I didn't want to talk about Annabeth. "We were all friends with her too but then you two broke up as best friends or some shit like that. After that, we had to choose sides. And be glad that my hormones weren't activated back then because if they were, I would have chosen to stay friends with her instead of you." What a great friend he is.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Shut up, Connor."

I stared off into the direction Annabeth went. Too bad she and I aren't friends anymore. She was the smartest person in our class. I bet she has the highest GPA and is the favorite for valedictorian. If anyone could help me improve my grades in a month, it was Annabeth. But why would she want to help me? We haven't exchanged words in maybe three years besides the few times in the hallway when Annabeth told me to "get out of my way." Back when we were friends, I could get her to do pretty much anything with enough begging and sprinkles of flattery here and there. But those techniques wouldn't work on her now, especially when all she could do was scowl whenever she saw me.

In middle school, even without the coaxing, I knew Annabeth would help me out whenever I needed it because we were friends, and she was the kind of person that would help out her friends no matter what because that is just what an amazing person she is.

That's it! If I could win back her friendship, she would help me get my grades up! But how was I supposed to do that? The thought discouraged me but I grabbed my backpack and headed to the store anyway. Eh, I wasn't one for planning ahead. I could figure it out later.

* * *

I waited semi-patiently for Annabeth to exit the campus store. I saw her inside from the windows standing in line for check-out so it shouldn't be too long now. It was pretty convenient to have this store located on our campus. Goode was about fifteen miles away from any city so we couldn't leave campus to go into the city just to buy bubblegum or pencils. The store, which everyone just called the bookstore (I don't know why, it doesn't even sell that many books), was pretty much a Wallgreen's so it's merchandise was pretty diverse.

The automatic doors opened and Annaebth walked out looking at her receipt. Her blond curls were in a low ponytail and all I wanted to do was run my fingers through her hair. She used to let me touch her hair in middle school and it wasn't a real big deal. But I think that if I tried that now, she would judo flip me or something like that.

She was dressed in the school's standard uniform for girls: black skirt that stopped about four inches above her knees, white button down shirt, and sea green cardigan sweater. It looked pretty similar to the guys uniform , ya know, minus the skirt, and it wasn't flashy or anything. But Annabeth made it look cute and stylish. I even liked how it looked on her better than how it looked on Silena.

Annabeth stuffed her receipt into the side pocket of her backpack. As soon as she looked up at me, I put on my friendliest face and waved at her. Her expression immediately tensed. She balled her fists and began walking away and I ran to catch up to her.

"Annabeth, wait up!"

"What the hell do you want?"

"No need to get all pissed off, I just wanted to say hi." I thought that I'd sweeten her up a bit before asking her to tutor me.

But she wasn't buying it. Her eyes narrowed and she walked faster. I matched her pace and then stood in front of her, halting her. She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, waiting for an explanation.

"So," I felt so awkward and tried not to notice how intense and threatening Annabeth's stare was. "How are you?"

She rolled her eyes and tried to side step me, but I wasn't letting her get away that easily. Frustrated and probably figured out that I wasn't giving up, she huffed and stopped trying to escape me.

"Cut the crap and just tell me what you want. I don't want to waste time talking to you." Harsh.

My eye twitched. I did not like the attitude this girl was giving me. I was already embarrassed and humbled enough trying to ask her for help and her attitude was not making it any easier for me. Maybe deciding to be her friend again was not the best idea.

Annabeth cleared her throat, still waiting for an answer. I just decided to be frank.

"Okay, listen up. I'm at risk of being on academic suspension which means I can't go out for sports-"

"I know what it means." She interrupted.

"-if I don't get my grades up soon." I finished.

"So?"

Did she want me to get on my knees and beg?

"So, I was hoping you could help me out here."

Annabeth was silent. She seemed to be genuinely clueless about what I was getting at. And Annabeth was usually never clueless.

"Tutor me." I finally said, unable to take her silence any longer. She was caught by surprise, I guess, because her jaw dropped.

"I am not obligated to do you any favors." Her voice was full of venom as she spoke to me. "We aren't friends."

"Then why don't we be friends?" Annabeth gasped and looked offended. I had no idea being my friend was such a dishonor.

"No, thank you." I had the feeling she didn't really mean the "thank you" part. She tried to walk away again but I stepped in front of her so fast that she bumped into me. I stared down at her and she stared up at me. I was a little over a head taller than she was.

"Come on, Annabeth, I really need your help. It wouldn't even have to be a favor. I can pay you. You're here on a scholarship, right? I can pay you any amount you want." Did I mention how expensive tuition was at Goode High? It was practically like paying for college. The high tuition was no problem for me. See, my dad, Poseidon, owns several maritime shipping companies and controls major ports on both the West Coast and East Coast. So, yeah, I'm practically set for life. I was probably set for several lifetimes. But anyway, only super rich kids could afford Goode. I was one of them and I knew Annabeth was not. Her father was a college professor and her step-mom was a housewife. She had no hope of paying for this school without a scholarship.

I guess my comment about her being on a scholarship and me being able to pay her whatever amount she wanted sounded pretty self-centered because she glared at me.

"I don't want nor need your daddy's money." Damn.

"I'll do whatever you want. Just please help me out here." I pleaded with as much sincerity as I could muster.

Annabeth stared up at me and thought for a while. Then she diverted her gaze and a blush crept upon her cheeks with a smile. God, I haven't seen her smile like that in such a long time. I missed it. She used to smile at me like that all the time. I felt my own cheeks heat up. I hadn't been this close to Annabeth in such a long time, too, affording me the opportunity to get a good look at her face. She was even more beautiful than she was back when we were friends, which I use to think was impossible because she was already so stunning.

"Anything, right?" She looked back up at me. Her smile disappeared as soon as she faced me but her cheeks were still flushed.

"Yes, anything."

"Promise."

"You really don't trust me?"

"Well, you haven't given me any reason to trust you lately."

"Fine, I promise to do anything if you agree to tutor me."

"Introduce me to Luke Castellan."

I felt my face grow hotter, but this time, it wasn't because of Annabeth's face, but because I was now officially pissed off.


	2. Chapter 2

**Percy**

Annabeth wants me to introduce her to Luke Castellan. Annabeth wants me to introduce her to Luke Castellan. Annabeth wants me to introduce her to Luke freaking Castellan!

The more I repeated that in my head, the angrier I got.

"What the hell kind of condition is that?"

"Well, you said anything. Why, is there something wrong with my request?"

I gulped. I can't yell at her for her request. I didn't want to make her madder than she already was. And it was clear that even if I argued with her, Annabeth wouldn't stand down, no matter how stupid I tried to make her condition seem. I flat out wanted to say no. But if I didn't fulfill her wish, she wouldn't tutor me. But the thought of introducing Annabeth to Luke Castellan infuriated me so much that I was ready to storm off.

"Well, can't you request something more worth while?" I tried to convince her to agree to something else. I didn't want to introduce her to Luke. She was basically asking me to play matchmaker, which is not my forte. "Are you sure you don't want any money?"

"You asked me to help you out here and you promised me anything." She kind of got in my face, trying to intimidate me. And it worked because my heart started to beat faster. I audibly gulped again.

"Well, Luke and I aren't really that close." I tried to explain.

"But you two are on the basketball team together."

"So? That doesn't mean we're friends." It was true. Luke and I were strictly on a need to know basis with each other. We only talked during practices. Don't get me wrong, he was a nice guy and all. There was just something about him that I really didn't like. Okay, fine, hated. He was always walking around with that smile on his face, making girls swoon wherever he went. Luke was way too perfect that it made me try to look for all the things that were wrong with him. For instance, he has a thick white scar on his face. I know that sounds really shallow to make a comment about his appearance. But it was the only thing I could think of.

"Fine, whatever, forget it!" She yelled at me. We stared angrily at each other for a moment and then stormed off at the same time. Storming off usually helps in making dramatic exits and letting a person know you're pissed. But Annabeth and I were storming off in the same direction so we ended up walking side by side. It took awhile for both of us to notice that we were right next to each other.

Gee, this is really awkward. We continued walking because we were both too proud to do anything else. But we were almost at the dorms already and I couldn't stand it anymore.

"Wow, this is awkward." I voiced. I even started smiling and then started cracking up. Annabeth turned her head away from my view. She walked even faster until she entered the girl's dorms building.

I smiled as I entered the boy's dorms. The there were only two dorm buildings, one for boys and one for girls. Only having two dorm buildings doesn't seem like enough, but the buildings were both ten stories and had a long width. I lived on the third floor.

Walking into my dorm that I had shared with Grover, I felt all-warm inside. I lay in my bed and put my hands behind my head. Despite how weird that encounter with Annabeth was, I couldn't help smiling about it. The more I thought about it, the bigger my smile got. It was just like old times.

* * *

**Annabeth**

Err, that Percy Jackson!

I roughly pushed the number six button on the elevator. I was not in a good mood now. He probably ruined my whole week! And it was only Monday. I guess that Percy brought out the bitch in me because as the elevator door was closing, I saw Katie Gardener running towards it and telling me to open the doors. I pressed the button that closed the elevator door instead.

I entered my dorm and slammed the door behind me causing my roommate, Piper McLean, to flinch from her place on her bed. Piper was a very pretty girl but for some reason her face was flushed and her hair was a mess. Usually it is kinda messy, but messy in the way that was intended or something. I don't really know anything about hair styling. I only had three hairstyles that I switched back and forth between: low ponytail, side braid, or down. Sometimes I wore a headband with any of those hair-dos, but – never mind, I'm rambling.

"What's up with you?" Piper asked but she didn't look entirely interested. In fact, she looked more panicked than interested. I couldn't imagine why she would look so unnerved but I didn't bother to dwell on it. Piper's a strange girl and I don't know if I will ever understand her.

"I talked to Percy." Never mind about Piper being uninterested. She perked up as soon as I mentioned Percy. I emptied my backpack to put my math book and notebook onto my desk beside my bed, expecting our conversation to end there.

"Really?" She was excited now. "What happened? Did you guys make up? Did you guys make out?" I snapped my head in her direction with what I imagine to be a horrified expression on my face.

"No, we just talked! What on Earth are you talking about?" Percy and me? Make out? That made absolutely no sense at all. If any someone else I wasn't close to like Piper even suggested such a thing, I probably would be on my way to the principal's office.

Piper just shrugged and opened a magazine.

Pretty much every one of my friends and Percy's friends knew we didn't get along. They all also happened to know that Percy and I used to be friends. It seems that everyone was always watching the two of us whenever we were together. I hoped that no one had saw us talking a while ago. But people seemed to be drawn in whenever Percy and I happened to be in the same room. They were probably hoping for a fight that I would probably win (its about skill and strategy, not strength) or for us to make up. I personally would prefer the former to happen.

One time I was about to walk into the bathroom in the science wing and I heard Silena Beauregard, who was a senior, and Piper in there talking. Surprise, surprise, they were talking about Percy and me. For some reason, Silena "shipped" us. It was ridiculous. Just because two people show some sort of feelings, positive or negative, towards each other, she ships them and thinks they would be "oh, so cute together!" I guess Silena recruited Piper to gather any intel on us which is probably why Piper seemed so eager to hear about me and Percy.

Anyway, back to my anecdote. I decided to eavesdrop on them to understand what they were talking about rather than burst in demanding answers. Eavesdropping was more strategic and I was all about strategy.

"Are you going to invite Percy or Annabeth?" Piper had asked Silena. Silena and her boyfriend Beckendorf were going off into the city that Saturday and wanted to take some of their friends. Piper and her boyfriend Jason Grace declined to go because they both had term papers to write.

"I don't know. Charlie" That was what Silena called Beckendorf. "is friends with Percy and is probably going to invite him. I like hanging out with both Annabeth and Percy, just not at the same time. I could feel the tension between them without them even having to talk." Silena sighed dreamily. "But they would make such a cute couple, don't you think, sweetie?"

"Uh, I don't know, I guess so." Piper said and I could hear them walking to the bathroom exit and so I bolted in the other direction.

Silena ended up asking me if I wanted to go anyway but I said no. If there was a chance Percy would be there, maybe even in the same car, I didn't want to take a chance. But I told her that I had homework that needed catching up on. I should have chosen a better excuse than that because Silena looked at me like I was crazy.

"I'm going to take a shower." I told Piper back in the present and walked towards the bathroom in our dorm, leaving the bathroom door ajar.

Goode was a pretty rich school so each dorm had its own bathroom and shower instead of the whole floor sharing a bathroom with several showers and toilets. So I guess our dorms were really suites. I stripped off my clothes and started the shower from outside the tub. Right when I was about to step into the shower, I realized that I forgot to get myself a towel. I didn't mind walking out of the bathroom completely naked. It wasn't a big deal in my dorm. Besides, Piper had seen me naked in the locker room showers before.

I cracked the bathroom door open a little wider just to make sure Piper hadn't invited anyone else in during the short time I was in here. Thank goodness I did check because Piper knocked on her bed's headboard twice and Jason crawled out from under the bed. He was shirtless and his pants were undone. Jason lifted Piper's comforter to retrieve his shirt. He slipped it on in a hurry, zipped up and buttoned his pants, kissed Piper's cheek, and then left. I shook my head at their antics then opened the bathroom door. Piper looked at me surprised that I wasn't in the shower but schooled her expression to be normal, probably hoping I hadn't seen Jason.

I got a towel and before closing the door to the bathroom, I glanced at Piper and gave her a knowing smile.

* * *

After my hot shower, I settled on my revolving desk chair to do homework. Usually when I did homework, nothing could distract me. Many people called me the perfect and ideal student. It was a nice compliment that always made me blush. But I couldn't seem to focus tonight. My thoughts kept on wandering to my encounter with Percy. I wanted to hate that tiny moment we shared. He even had the audacity to start laughing. His laughing was always contagious so I had to increase my pace to get away from him so I didn't start laughing too. As much as I tried to hate it, I loved that moment. It was just like old times. We would get mad at each other over something trivial and then laugh it off the next minute.

Despite never wanting to remember that day, my thoughts eventually wandered to the day our friendship ended.

* * *

It was the summer after seventh grade, the day of Percy's birthday to be exact. I was so excited to give him my present. He had been going on and on about how he wanted me to get into SpongeBob SquarePants so he could talk about it with me and reference it in our conversations. I had only seen one episode and I could already tell it was an asinine show. Percy probably liked it because it took place in the ocean and Percy had an affinity for water. He had lent me his box set of the first season DVDs and I admit, after watching them, I found the show amusing. So for his birthday, I decided to get him the second season box set. I have been to his house (or should I say mansion estate) a bunch of times and seen his DVD collection. He didn't have the second season. I knew he would love it if I got it for him.

I finished the final details on his birthday card. It was made of blue construction paper folded in half. I decorated it with hearts and SpongeBob characters that I drew myself. I even signed the card with "Love, Annabeth." I still blush whenever I think about it. But I was a girl. Girls could get away with drawing hearts and stuff like that everywhere, even if they weren't girly-girls.

"Dad, I'm ready to go!" I yelled downstairs as I gathered the card in my arms gingerly. I decided to leave Percy's present at home and give it to him later. I didn't want it to get wet or sandy because we were going to the beach.

Percy wasn't the type to want big parties or have people make a fuss over him, so he invited our friends to a day at the beach and then go to his house, sorry, mansion for cake afterwards.

On the car ride to the beach, I read over his birthday card over and over, still blushing about the hearts everywhere and the "Love, Annabeth."

I sighed. I had been so sad when the school year ended. Luke Castellan was my crush and he was going on to high school since he was a year older than me. I wished I had the courage to talk to him when I had the chance. He was always so nice to everyone and whenever he saw me looking at him, he smiled. He was so handsome and is even more gorgeous now.

Knowing that I wouldn't be seeing him in the hallways anymore made me sad and mopey when summer started. But today really cheered me up. I would be spending time with Percy like I do every summer and he always seemed to get my mind off Luke and make me feel better. He was certainly the best friend I would ever have.

"Bye, Dad!" I waved as he drove off. I turned towards the beach and smiled. There hadn't been a lot of people here even though it was summer. Maybe it was one of those private beaches that Percy's family owned.

I scanned the beach and smiled when I spotted Percy and our friends, who were all gathered around him. They were all in their swimming attire and were dripping wet.

Walking towards them, I passed by and waved at Percy's cousins who were in town for the summer: Thalia Grace who was Jason's big sister, and Bianca and Nico di Angelo. Thalia was starting high school when summer was over and she lived with her dad while her brother Jason lived with their mom. Bianca was just a year younger than Percy while little Nico would be starting fifth grade. He was such a cutie. Thalia and Bianca were helping him build a sand castle.

Travis and Connor Stoll started laughing loudly, causing our other friends to laugh, too. Travis and Connor were more Percy's friends than they were my friends but they were still nice. And I use the word "nice" very loosely. They were the biggest pranksters in school and sometimes took their pranks a little too far. One time they locked a science teacher in a closet on a Friday and then forgot about them. The teacher was discovered the following Monday. Another time, they put a big, fat, hairy fake spider in my locker and when I opened my locker, it was rigged to jump out at me. I was so surprised I fell backwards and started screamed and crying, thinking it was real, until Percy got it off me and threw it in the trashcan. Percy wouldn't let go of my hand when he walked me home that day. Then the next morning, Travis and Connor came to school with black eyes. They never played a prank on me ever again after that.

Silena stood next to Beckendorf, Grover, and Rachel Elizabeth Dare. Silena looked a little worried while everyone else was laughing.

Percy was a different story. He looked positively livid and looked ready to tackle the Stolls to the ground and strangle the life out of them. His sour face troubled me, but I hoped that my card would cheer him up. It was his birthday, after all, and he shouldn't spend it scowling.

"Percy!" I called, approaching him. He turned his head in my direction and his frown deepened. I held out my card, "Read it!" I wanted to make him feel better right away.

Percy glared so harshly at me that I suddenly felt small and insignificant. He redirected his glare to my card and snatched it out of my hands and I flinched. He stared at it and for a second, looked like he was going to open it to read it. But instead he ripped the card in half and threw the paper in my face. Everyone around us gasped. Will Solace and Jason shook their heads disapprovingly and Rachel looked so angry like she was ready to pounce Percy. I felt tears swell up in my eyes and when those tears fell, Percy didn't even seem phased.

I turned and ran away from him as fast as I could. What was I suppose to make of what just happened. Were we no longer friends anymore? Why was this happening?

"Annabeth, don't let him get to you!" Silena caught up to me and hugged me. "Don't worry," she said, "my dad will be here to pick me up any minute and we can take you home." I buried my face in my hands because the tears wouldn't stop coming. "There he is, come on!" I felt Silena lead me to her father's car. Before I climbed in the back seat, I glanced back in time to see Percy stomping away from our friends.

I rushed to my room as soon as I got home and threw myself on the bed and cried harder.

What had suddenly come over Percy to make him act that way to me? Did I do something wrong? What could I have possibly done? I had just talked to Percy on the phone the night before. He was calling to make sure that I was coming to the beach and to see if I needed a ride there. I told him that my dad would drop me off and he seemed okay. He even told me how excited he was and how much fun we were going to have.

Why didn't he want to be my friend anymore? The thought made me cry harder.

First I lost my crush, Luke. Now it seems like I just lost my best friend, Percy, too.

* * *

"Annabeth!"

Piper's voice snapped me out of my flashback. I turned to face her in my revolving chair. She didn't look pleased.

"Dude, I've called your name like five times."

"Sorry," I said. "I just couldn't figure out this problem." She got off her bed and walked over to my desk and glanced at my homework. It was all done half-assed.

"Are you okay?" She felt my forehead and looked worried.

"I'm fine. Now, why were you calling me?"

"I'm hungry, let's go get dinner in the cafeteria." She walked back to her bed and slipped on her shoes.

"Okay."

Piper was talking about her day on our way there. I was too distracted to pay attention but Piper didn't seem to mind. I just couldn't stop thinking about Percy.

"Hey, is it okay if Jason joins us for dinner?"

I defiantly paid attention to that.

"What? Come on, Piper, I don't wanna be a third wheel. _Again._ " Hanging out with Jason and Piper when its just the three of us was a nightmare. I tried to avoid it as much as possible because, trust me, when you're accompanying two people who are in love to the movies, dinner, the mall, anywhere, things tend to get awkward. And not the "funny, ha, ha" awkward like my moment with Percy earlier, but the "Oh, my God, what have I done to deserve being put in this situation, get me outta here" awkward.

"Then I'll ask Jason to bring a friend for you." Before I could stop her she had already texted Jason on her iPhone.

Oh, Piper. There was no stopping that girl when she decided to do something.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Percy dreams about the day his life was ruined. 
> 
> This chapter has one of the few Annabeth POVs that this story will have. This story is mostly going to be Percy POV with sprinkles of Annabeth POV when the situation calls for it.
> 
> Thank you for reading!
> 
> You can find me on tumblr at annazonabeth


	3. Chapter 3

**Percy**

I was chilling on my bed, just staring up at the ceiling with my hands behind my head. I find myself doing this a lot lately. It's sort of become my own way of meditation. I was still thinking about Annabeth even though we had talked almost three hours ago. I could still feel that I had a goofy smile on my face.

Grover walked in looking really tired. He and his girlfriend, Juniper Berry, were part of the school's Organic Gardening Club. Take it from me, organic gardening is a lot of work. One time, Grover called my debt to him and got me to help out because they needed everything done before spring break. They had me pulling weeds for hours while Juniper spread ash to discourage slugs and snails and Grover picked vegetables with the other members. It kind of pissed me off that I was the only one pulling weeds and killing any bugs that I saw. When I was finally fed up with all the bugs and weeds, I casually asked them why don't they just use pesticides and weed killer. They all got murderous looks in their eyes and kicked me out. I'm still not allowed near the school's garden.

Grover spent a lot of time at Gardening Club so he always came back to our dorm exhausted. He walked to his bed across the room and collapsed on it.

"Working hard or hardly working, huh, G-man?"

He turned his head to me and smiled.

"Yeah, Katie is freaking out and making everyone examine the mineral contents of the soil. She was also pretty ticked off because when she went to get her gardening gloves from her dorm, someone wouldn't hold the elevator for her. And guess who showed up to 'help out'? The Stolls."

I chuckled. Katie Gardner is the Gardening Club's president and is super knit-picky about everything in the garden. She had a certain way she wanted me to pull weeds and scolded my ear off if she caught me not doing it her way. And putting the Stolls with Katie was always a cause for alarm. They always end up arguing and nothing ever gets done with the three of them are going at it. Everyone suspects that Travis has a thing for Katie.

"And then," Grover continued, "Travis and Connor were going on and on about how we should switch our compost to bat guano and were trying to get Katie to buy some. They were this close," he held up his thumb and index finger really close together, "to roping Castor and Pollux into buying some but Katie kicked them out by that time."

I laughed out loud. As much as Katie hated being around Travis and Connor, everyone else enjoyed it because they were hilarious when they interacted.

"So where did you run off to in such a hurry this afternoon?"

What should I say? Should I just tell the truth about talking to Annabeth? Sure, why not?

"I went to go talk to Annabeth." Grover, despite his fatigue, sat up and stared at me.

"Really, what about?" He was grinning like crazy. I expected him to act like this but was hoping he wouldn't. His eyes had a hopeful gleam in them that they always seemed to have if I ever mention Annabeth.

"Uh, I asked her to tutor me."

"Oh, why did you ask Annabeth to tutor you when there are tons of other tutors like at the thing Will mentioned?" He was egging me on. I could feel it.

"Well, you know, she's probably the smartest person in this school." Grover's smile widened. "What?"

"Oh, nothing." He pulled a textbook from his backpack and opened it, still smiling, I might add.

"No, really, what's with the insane grin?" I knew he knew that I knew why he was smiling. But I had to act ignorant or else I would not hear the end of it.

For the past couple of years, he had been trying to get me to talk to Annabeth and make peace. Why couldn't I just ignore her?

"Well, you and Annabeth, talking?" He said without looking up from his textbook.

"Can we just establish that there is nothing going on with me and Annabeth?"

"I know that's not true, Percy." He looked up from his book at me. "Don't think I didn't notice that smile on your face when I walked in. You haven't looked that content since you were friends with her." I sighed. When it came to people's feelings, Grover had some kind of a sixth sense. He could pick up on people's feelings in an instant. It was kind of freaky. Whenever Annabeth passed us in the hallway, I would find myself holding my breath. Then I'd look at Grover to try and avoid looking at Annabeth only to see Grover grinning at me knowingly.

Most times his gift of empathy bothered me. Its like he knew exactly how I was feeling even if I didn't know how I was feeling, especially when it came to Annabeth. I just hoped that he'd drop this conversation.

"Do you still like her?"

I should just stop hoping for things because the opposite of what I'm hoping always seems to happen.

I didn't say anything for a while but that totally gave it away.

"You do, don't you?"

"No!" Number one rule of trying to convince someone you don't like a girl: Don't sound defensive. It's a red flag that you're lying. And I was sounding very defensive.

Grover just raised his eyebrows and smiled, as if he had just made a point.

"Whatever, I'm gonna go grab some dinner."

"I'll join you!" He closed his book and hopped off his bed.

* * *

We headed to the cafeteria, which was pretty fancy for a high school. But of course, this is Goode. The cafeteria was pretty much like a restaurant during dinner hours where students would sit down at round tables varying in size and have their food brought to them. But it was pretty much like other schools during breakfast and lunch.

Grover and I entered the cafeteria and I scanned the room for a table. Without looking for her, I immediately spotted Annabeth. She was seated at one of the smaller tables with three other people: my cousin Jason with his girlfriend Piper and a tall, buff guy I knew was named Dakota. Dakota was more Jason's friend than mine. I didn't even know Dakota's last name. Jason always joked that it was Fanning. At least, I think it's a joke.

Dakota was chugging down a glass of Kool Aid while Jason, Annabeth, and Piper talked and ate their dinner.

Wait a second; Jason and Piper are boyfriend and girlfriend. And they were sitting closer to each other than to Annabeth and Dakota. Annabeth and Dakota were also sitting closer to each other. Were they on a double date? Did Jason and Piper set them up? Those traitors!

I clenched my fist. Piper nudged Annabeth and she raised her eyes and saw me. We locked eyes for a moment, and then I glanced at Dakota and back at Annabeth. Ananabeth moved her eyes to Dakota, too, and then laughed as he told a joke. I almost gagged.

"Percy, don't just stand there! Come on, I got us a table!"

I didn't even notice that Grover had disappeared from my side. Quickly, I walked towards the table Grover had taken a seat at. There were five chairs there and four of them were occupied, one of the four by Grover. I took the last seat and put on a smile for the people already at the table, despite my growing anger at seeing Annabeth possibly on a date.

"Hey, Percy."

The people who were at the table with us were Hazel Levesque, Frank Zhang and Leo Valdez. Frank had been the one who addressed me. Funny fact, he and I are related. In the eighth grade, Frank and I had done a family tree. Imagine our surprise when there was the same guy on both of our projects. It was pretty mind-blowing finding out that I was related to one of my friends. But we're distantly related, maybe thirty-first cousins eighteenth removed or something close to that. It hurt our brains when we tried to figure it out exactly.

Frank was seated next to Hazel, a freshman who he had a major crush on. On the other side of Hazel and next to me was Leo. He was, to put nicely, weird.

"Percy in the hizzouse!" Leo practically yelled in my ear and held up his hand for me to high-five him. I left him hanging and started eating the food that a kitchen staff placed in front of me. Leo quickly ran his raised hand through this hair to play off my rebuff. He was always fun to mess with.

Leo started talking about what was happening with the Robotics Club. Hazel nodded her head as Leo spoke and occasionally said, "hmm," and "uh-huh." But none of us really ever understood Leo when he was talking about Robotics Club. I don't think anyone really ever understood whatever Leo was talking about at any given time. He was more ADHD than even me.

I was busy stealing glances at Annabeth from across the room. She playfully hit Dakota on the arm, which was a sure sign of flirting. Dammit, they were on a date! But wait, she likes Luke. So maybe they were just friends. Yeah, just friends.

"Percy." I barely heard Frank call my name. My attention was all on Annabeth. She was smiling and laughing, having finished her dinner, but Dakota, Piper, and Jason were still eating so she was hanging around with them. She would occasionally run her fingers through her ponytail.

"Percy." Frank called my name again. I was still looking at Annabeth. She was thanking a kitchen staff member as he bused their table. Man, was she something.

"Hey, try saying Annabeth's name, maybe he will pay attention to that." Hazel said and I snapped my attention back to them.

"Huh?" I said stupidly.

"Told ya." Hazel began to laugh and everyone joined her. Frank tried to casually look over his shoulder but he ended up making it look even more obvious. He saw that I was indeed looking past him at Annabeth.

"Still stuck on her, I see." Frank shook his head. "Poor sap," he said under his breath but I still caught it.

"No." I said calmly.

"They why are you staring at her?" Hazel smirked but managed to look innocent.

"There's a piece of spinach in her teeth." Aw, why did I say that?

"But pasta was for dinner and the salad was romaine lettuce leaves." Leo said as they all stared at me, expecting an answer. I couldn't help but glance at Annabeth to see her and her group heading back to the dorms.

I sighed. "Whatever."

"Isn't it so romantic that he still loves her after all this time?" Hazel said dreamily and put her hands on her cheeks.

"Uh, yeah, I guess." Frank would agree with Hazel on anything. Grover was giving me that knowing smile that was starting to annoy me.

"How long has it been that you've had a crush on her? I think I met you when you were in fifth grade and I was in third grade." Hazel looked up at the ceiling, doing calculations in her head. "Like six years? And probably even before I met you. That's so cute, Percy." She smiled and started blushing.

"Whoa, wait a second, you like Annabeth?" Leo asked obliviously. I was about to answer "no," but Hazel interrupted me.

"Leo! It's so obvious! How could you not have noticed?"

Leo stared at her wide-eyed, trying to think of an answer. "Uh..."

"It's a rhetorical question." That made Leo close his mouth.

Okay, why does everyone assume that I like Annabeth? We hardly ever talk to each other now. And even when I used to have a crush on her when we were friends, it couldn't have been that obvious. And I don't like her anymore. Trust me, I don't.

"I'm heading back to the dorm." Frank, Leo, and Hazel said their goodbyes to Grover and me as we headed towards the boys dorms.

* * *

After brushing my teeth, I laid in my bed in my own personal meditation pose: flat on my back, hands behind my head, staring up at the ceiling.

Thankfully Grover didn't bring up Annabeth. I was free to focus my thoughts on whatever I wanted. And my thoughts went straight to Annabeth.

Gah, I can't think of her anymore! I need to focus on getting my grades up so I can play basketball and swimming in the spring!

Okay, okay, here's the plan:

Go to tutoring.

I guess I have to suck it up and take whatever help I can get, even if that help does not involve Annabeth.

Stop thinking about Annabeth.

Yes, that was a great plan. Uh, except I mentioned Annabeth in both one and two!

I sighed and turned on my side. Maybe a good night's sleep will clear my mind of her. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

My dream was making me relive my birthday at the beach in the summer after seventh grade.

I didn't want a party because my mom would go all out and probably rent a circus or the whole aquarium. I hated it when people made a big fuss over me. I mean, it's just me, nothing special.

Instead of a party, I invited my friends who were still in town for the summer to the beach. We would swim, play volleyball, hang out, beach-y stuff like that, and then head back to my house for cake and ice cream. It was going to be a blast.

I called Annabeth the night before to make sure that she would be coming to the beach and to see if she needed a ride. I really wanted her to be there because it wouldn't be fun without her. She said her dad was taking her.

My cousins who live in California were also in town for a while. Jason was especially happy that his big sister, Thalia, was spending the summer with him and their mom. Their parents had gotten a divorce when Jason was a baby. I felt for him. My parents had just gotten a divorce a few months ago. But at least my mom and dad were still nice to each other. Jason and Thalia's parents were always arguing.

Thalia was okay, but we always butt heads. She was also nice to Annabeth, which made me happy.

Bianca and Nico were both younger than me. I never had a problem with Bianca because she was always well mannered and nice. It's just her little brother that annoyed me constantly, always asking stupid questions. They had met Annabeth last summer and were nice to her like Thalia. But Annabeth always fawned over Nico, which I hated! He wasn't even that much cuter than me. Its probably just because he was younger and a little dorky with his obsession with Mythomagic. Whatever. I'm the one who got to spend almost every day with her during the school year and most days during summer.

After I got off the phone with Annabeth, Nico started bugging me about how he wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese instead of the beach.

"I don't want to go to Chuck E. Cheese, Nico! I want to go to the beach!"

He was throwing quite the tantrum and Bianca wasn't there to control him. She, Thalia, their moms and my mom had gone shopping earlier.

"Well, I don't want to go to the beach!"

"But it's my birthday, kiddo."

Nico glared at me and crossed his arms. What a brat. But I guess I could understand. He and Bianca lived in Los Angeles and their house was so close to the beach that they practically lived on the beach. So maybe he was a little bored with it. But I didn't care. It was my birthday and I loved the beach. And so did Annabeth.

"Listen up, if you don't stop making such a fuss over going to the beach, you don't get any birthday cake and ice cream."

Nico gasped loudly and dramatically. He pointed his pale finger at me.

"That's not fair!"

"If you don't want cake, I don't care, more for me." Then I walked out of the living room, up the stairs, and into my room.

He followed me and started jumping on my bed.

"Okay, I'll be good!"

He kept his promise the next day and was quietly building a sand castle with the help of Thalia and Bianca.

I came back on to the beach out of the ocean. All of the guys were horsing around in the water, tackling each other and splashing everywhere. Silena and Rachel stayed near the shore and just submerged themselves once to get use to the cold but only stayed knee deep at most.

Annabeth still hadn't shown up. Everyone had gathered around me while I was looking out for her dad's car.

"Waiting for your Princess Annabeth, Perce?" Rachel joked playfully. She used to have a crush on me and if Annabeth didn't exist, there was a microscopic chance that I might have been into Rachel. But Annabeth did exist and I couldn't imagine myself liking anyone but her.

"Yeah," I said while still looking around.

"Oooh, Percy likes Annabeth." Travis sang obnoxiously.

I snapped my head in his direction, embarrassed and about to deny it. Everyone else started laughing except Silena, who had always been good at lovey-dovey stuff.

"Oh, shush, Travis." She scolded him. "I think it's sweet." She smiled at me and I didn't feel embarrassed anymore.

"Me, too." Grover patted my back. "And I think she likes you, too."

Hearing that made me feel amazing. Grover was pretty close to Annabeth, not as close as I was, but still close. Maybe she had told him that she liked me. The idea of Annabeth liking me made my stomach do cartwheels and I felt like I was invincible. The only thing that could possibly make me feel even more fantastic was if Annabeth said that she liked me herself.

"Nuh-uh!" Rachel suddenly interrupted my inner moment of ecstasy. "She told me that she likes Luke!" Everyone stared at her. She suddenly realized what she said and covered her mouth. She was always such a blabbermouth.

"Luke Castellan?" Will asked and everyone looked at Rachel for reaffirmation. She looked away, ashamed that she had said anything at all. Her silence confirmed it was Luke Castellan.

Luke Castellan? He was the most popular guy in our middle school. But I don't ever recall Annabeth ever even speaking to him. Why would she like him?

I felt like my heart was bit by a snake and then constricted until all the blood had emptied out of it.

My face contorted into a fierce scowl.

"Sucks for you, Percy!" Travis and Connor started laughing and a few others joined in because their laughter was so contagious. They weren't trying to be mean. They probably thought that I didn't care that much or that Annabeth was just a small crush and I would be over her in a few days.

But they were wrong.

Through their laughter, I clenched my fists and felt my whole body shaking with the desire to take my hurt and anger out on something, someone, anyone.

"Percy!" I heard Annabeth's voice. I turned in the direction I heard her voice come from and my attitude worsened. It hurt to see her after Rachel revealed that she liked Luke. I just couldn't stand to look at Annabeth without feeling like someone was trying to pull my stomach out through my throat.

She held out a card to me. "Read it!" She said happily. I snatched it out of her hands and she recoiled. It was a cute card, blue, my favorite color. But I couldn't appreciate it fully, not with the information I had learned.

I couldn't take the pain anymore. I ripped the card in half and threw the pieces in her face. Everyone gasped but I didn't care. I couldn't let Annabeth hurt me this way without getting back at her. If she wants to like Luke instead of me, I told myself, fine!

Annabeth started crying. Tears were running down her face rapidly as she looked at me, hurt. It took all of my willpower not to wrap my arms around her and apologize. Annabeth ran away and Silena chased after her.

Rachel hit me upside the head. I turned to glare at her.

"Now what the heck did you do that for, dumbass!" She yelled at me. Everyone else fell into an awkward silence.

"I'm going home!" I announced and stomped away.

Nico saw me approaching my cousins and smiled. Their sand castle looked well done with a lot of attention to detail.

"Are we gonna go have cake and ice cream now?" His happiness was rubbing me the wrong way. I stomped right over his sand castle, ruining it. "Hey!" Nico yelled and stood up to follow me. He slammed his small fists into my back but I hardly felt it.

My chuffer was waiting with a limo to take us all to my house for cake but I got in and told him to take me home. He looked at me, surprised. Jason, Thalia, Bianca, and Nico, whose foul mood was rivaling mine, got into the limo but stayed silent. They knew better than to bother me when I was angry. Only Annabeth was ever successful at calming me down, and I just didn't want to see her.

* * *

I awoke from my dream/memory to a dark room. Grover was quietly snoring on his bed. My breathing was heavy. I threw the covers off and stood up to walk to the foot of my bed. I opened the trunk and retrieved a plain tin box.

I walked back to sit on my bed and ran a hand through my hair. Inside this box (my secret box, not even Grover knew about it), were all of my keepsakes. There was a photo of my mom and dad and me before their divorce, a couple of Valentine's cards, a leather necklace with assorted clay beads, and lastly, a handmade card made out of blue construction paper. It had been ripped in half but was carefully tapped back together.

I read through it and smiled. It always made me happy to read it, but also really sad and ashamed of myself.

A name left my lips in a whisper.

"Annabeth."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Percy and Annabeth come to an agreement.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

**Percy**

I was walking to tutoring sessions and not looking forward to it, might I add. My day was harder to get through than usual. Maybe its because I couldn't get my mind off of Annabeth. She's in my first class, English. But we sit so far away from each other that sometimes I forget that she's there.

Most days I could ignore her easily. But today wasn't that kind of day. During class, I kept glancing at her from my seat at the back of the classroom.

English and Math were the subjects that were causing me problems. I was okay with everything else, able to get a C and above. I just needed help on English and Math so I don't think I should have much trouble getting my grades up.

I entered the room where tutoring would be held. It was different, to say the least. When I came here in freshman year, there were probably about thirty kids in the room with maybe three or four tutors trying to help so many kids at once. But I guess tuition was going to good use this year because the room that I walked into only had fifteen kids and had five tutors walking around helping people when the needed it.

"Can I help you?" An older girl with a nametag that read "Gwen" said.

"Uh, I'm here for tutoring."

"Which subjects do you need help in?"

"Just Math and English."

"Okay, I'll take you to one of the Math rooms. The rooms are now organized by subject with no more than fifteen students per room." We walked down the hall and Gwen opened a door that said "Math Tutoring 2." Gwen had introduced me to the five tutors in that room. "When you're ready to move on to English, just find a room with that isn't full and has 'English Tutoring' on the door, 'kay?"

"Okay, thanks." She left and I sat down and began to get out my math stuff when I heard a shrill voice call my name.

"Percy!" I turned and saw Drew Tanaka and Calypso Ogygia. I turned back in my seat and gave a heavy sigh. "Like, OMG, what are you doing here?" Drew asked.

"I'm here for tutoring, what else would I be here for?" I tried to say my answer as rudely as possible, hoping that they would get the hint that I didn't want to talk to them. But, once again, my hoping for something caused the opposite. They pulled up chairs and sat on either side of me.

"Us, too!" Drew gave me an overly sweet and fake smile. I didn't like this chick, but I wasn't going to say it to her face.

Drew's a senior who went to my middle school. She used to bully Annabeth about her looks. Annabeth isn't the type of person to really care what other people thought about her appearance. But Drew's teasing got so bad that Annabeth came crying to me one day and when I asked her why she's crying, she said she was crying because she was ugly.

I hate bullying. Especially when it concerns Annabeth. Not a lot of people bullied her back in the day, but the ones who did had to deal with me.

I spend the rest of that day convincing Annabeth that she wasn't ugly. I hated to see Annabeth cry.

How ironic, I thought, remembering my dream of the day I made her cry. I guess I was just a big hypocrite.

"So, wanna hang out after tutoring, Percy, dear?" Drew asked.

"Uh, no, thanks. I really am trying to get my grades up so I can't have any distractions." I didn't want to be rude and bluntly say that I didn't want to spend time with them.

"Aw, but it will be fun, Percy!" Calypso said and latched onto my arm. Calypso was a pretty nice person. I didn't mind her as much as I did Drew. But Calypso was so easily influenced that she followed whatever Drew wanted to do and was practically her lackey. I'm not one for gossip, but rumor has it that Calypso is really clingy and will fall in love with just about any guy who glances her way. She was cute, but not my type.

I got Calypso to let go of me and I tried to start on my homework. But they couldn't stop talking.

"What straight guy turns down the opportunity to hang out with two hot girls like us?" Drew said as if I wasn't there. And I was. I was seated right between them, for crying out loud. Normally, I wouldn't have mind if people were talking while I was trying to do my homework. But they gossiped and talked loudly and were right next to me. I felt claustrophobic. And whenever I asked a tutor for help, Drew and Calypso would talk while the tutor was talking.

This was not working out.

"Hey, Percy, since we come to tutoring everyday, why don't you sit with us from now on?" Drew said. Oh, gods, I did not want to be around them while trying to do homework! Or while I was doing anything, really!

I had to think of a smart, strategic way to escape.

"Oh, no, look at the time!" So much for smart and strategic. "I gotta go, sorry." I gathered my things into my backpack as fast as I could and left.

* * *

I decided to wander the campus aimlessly until dinnertime. After dinner I would do the rest of my homework.

I passed by the garden and waved at Grover and Juniper. But Katie quickly shooed me away.

Maybe I could unwind with a game of basketball. Usually, if I'm feeling stressed, I would take a swim but there were swimming lessons going on in the indoor pool at this time.

While heading to the basketball courts, I saw Luke. I hoped that he hadn't seen me because I wasn't in the mood to be obligatory nice to acquaintances. The campus grounds were still pretty crowded with kids loitering with their friends and many walking to their dorms. From the corner of my eye, I could see Luke getting closer to me.

Please don't see me, please don't see me, please don't see me.

"Hey, Percy!"

Shit.

"Hey, Luke." I tried to sound happy to see him.

"Where ya headed?"

"I'm just going to play some basketball."

"Really, me too. I'll play you one-on-one." Damn, what was I suppose to say?

"Sure, sounds fun." It did not sound fun at all. Not even a little bit. How was I supposed to unwind with a guy like him around?

"You don't sound excited." He said as we continued to the courts.

"Uh, I'm just kinda stressed about school work. I'm close to being on academic suspension."

"That's a shame. We really need you on the team." He was sincere and I kinda felt bad for not liking him. I really had no good reason to dislike him. He was a nice guy, smart, tall, blond, blue-eyed, muscular, handsome. No homo, of course.

"Yeah, I tried to go to those tutoring sessions that the school offers but I can't really stand some people in there."

"You should get a private tutor!" He was really trying to help me out with my problem. But I still couldn't bring myself to not dislike him. "You know who would be perfect?" Oh, awesome, he even knew someone that I could employ!

"You know someone?"

"Well, not really. But I work in the office from time to time and I see people's transcripts sometimes. So I kind of have an idea of who does well in school and who doesn't."

"So who would be perfect to help me then?" I was ready to ditch him to go find the person he was about to refer me to.

"Annabeth Chase!"

I was shocked. I didn't even know that Luke knew Annabeth's name. I tried to play dumb.

"Why her?"

"Well, I was sorting through transcripts in the computer and saw she has a perfect GPA since she was a freshman. I bet she could help you."

"Yeah," was all I said. I wasn't going to tell Luke that I had already asked Annabeth and she had said no.

"Look, there she is." Luke nodded his head in Annabeth's direction and I looked up to see her. She was sitting at one of the many picnic tables alone, blushing and looking like she was pretending not to notice us walking by. "Why don't you ask her now? I'll wait."

I went into a state of alarm. I didn't want to ask Annabeth in front of him because she might demand that I introduce her to Luke right then and there. Or Luke might decide to join our conversation and everything would be ruined.

"Nah, later, let's just play."

"No, it's alright, I can wait. Your grades are important, Percy."

"No, really, Luke, let's just go. Besides, she looks busy."

Luke glanced at Annabeth. "If you say so."

I beat Luke at one-on-one that afternoon. Pfft, and he was supposed to be team captain. We walked to the locker rooms and I saw that Annabeth was still seated in the same place we last saw her. But now Piper and Jason joined her. They looked like they were all just doing homework. Annabeth glanced up. I didn't bother to divert my gaze because she wasn't even really looking at me. She was looking at Luke. Luke didn't seem to notice.

I realized the reason why I didn't like Luke.

I didn't like Luke because Annabeth likes Luke.

And I don't like that Annabeth likes Luke because I like Annabeth. I still like Annabeth, even after all these years of us being apart. There, I admit it. Although, I have the feeling it was pretty obvious. But I still didn't want other people to know that I still like her. They will think I'm some idiot who's lovelorn because the girl of his dreams can't look at him without frowning.

Even though I didn't want anyone to know that I like Annabeth, at the same time, I don't want her to be with anyone else.

She should just stay single her whole life.

I knew that was impossible because Annabeth was amazingly beautiful. People turned their heads to look at her. I didn't like it but I understood their attraction to her. You'd have to be insane not to think Annabeth was attractive.

And she was so much fun to be with when we were friends. She always told me that I was the one who made things fun, but really, she was the one. Annabeth was creative and artistic. She always wanted to make sure that her friends were okay and if they weren't she'd do whatever she could to make them feel better. I've been on the receiving end of her comforting many times in elementary and middle school.

As much as I wanted Annabeth to not meet anyone, I knew that wasn't fair. She deserved to meet a nice guy who's good to her.

Luke was a nice guy.

I guess I have no choice but to agree to Annabeth's terms if I want her help. If she and Luke were to get together after I introduced them, I'd just have to suck it up.

But was it so wrong to want Annabeth to myself?

* * *

Before dinner, I went to the school library. After I showered in the locker room and went looking for Annabeth, she wasn't with Jason and Piper anymore. I had asked them where Annabeth went and Jason said she had gone to the library. Piper couldn't stop smiling at me from her place on Jason's lap.

"Go get em, tiger!" She laughed when I turned to make my way to the library.

Annabeth was just coming out the main entrance. She pretended not to see me and was about to turn around to walk back in.

"Wait for me, Annabeth!"

She looked around to make sure that no one saw or heard that I called her. I was a little offended at that.

"I need to talk to you."

"Go ahead and talk. I don't care what you do." She snapped.

"Look, if you're still up for it, I'm willing to introduce you to Luke if you agree to tutor me."

Annabeth's face lit up with a smile. It hurt to know that Luke was the reason behind her smile and not me. But then her face returned to the mask of indifference she usually had with me. And whenever she wasn't indifferent towards me, she was mad.

"Deal. But let me make myself clear with you: I'm not doing your homework for you, I'm not writing any of your papers, and I will not text you answers during tests. I just will not tolerate any sort of cheating."

"Got it."

"And no complaining."

"All right."

"And we will not be speaking of anything other than academics."

"Fine."

"And no interacting outside of tutoring sessions."

"I can't even say 'hi' to you in the hallway?" She shook her head. "That seems a little extreme, Annabeth."

"I don't care. I don't want people thinking we're friends." She crossed her arms. "We are not friends." She really liked to emphasize that fact. I clenched my teeth.

"Fine. But," she raised her eyebrow, "I'm only gonna introduce you to Luke if I pass my first test in two weeks on Friday."

"Not so fast, Percy, how do I know you won't fail on purpose just so you don't have to introduce me to him?" I rolled my eyes.

"Why the hell would I purposely fail a test, Annabeth? I'm at risk of academic suspension! I need to play sports to survive the school year!" I didn't mention that flunking on purpose actually did cross my mind so I didn't have to introduce her to Luke, no matter how idiotic that was.

She was quiet for a while and I was a little scared she'd say no.

"Fine. Tomorrow, 3:30, conference room C in the library, don't be late."

I smiled widely and open my arms to hug her because I was so relieved and happy. She visibly stiffens and I catch myself before I wrap my arms around her. I rubbed the back of my neck and laughed awkwardly. She scoffed.

"So, wanna grab dinner with me?"

She made an irritated sound.

"What did I just say that you agreed to?"

"No cheating?"

"Percy!" She turned around and walked away but my smile wouldn't disappear.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: It's Percy's first tutoring session with Annabeth. Percy thinks things are going well. But since when do things ever go well for him? (Answer: Almost never.)
> 
> Thank you for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Next Chapter: Percy and Annabeth share a moment that feels like the good old times then Annabeth remembers why she and Percy are no longer friends.
> 
> Thank you for reading! Feel free to follow me on tumblr at annazonabeth. Let's hang


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